Former Oregon, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Francisco 49ers coach Chip Kelly could be back in the game. At the college level.
Via Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, Kelly has become of the three prime candidates to replace Jim McElwain as the head coach at the University of Florida. Others are UCF coach Scott Frost and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen.
Thamel explains that, if Kelly becomes the top choice (and if he’s interested), a deal could happen fairly quickly. Kelly may want to get a better sense of the other jobs that have opened (Tennessee) or that may become open in the coming weeks.
However it plays out, Kelly’s return is far more likely to happen at the college level. Despite taking the Eagles to the playoffs in his first year with the team, his final two seasons in Philadelphia and his only one in San Francisco have fully and completely removed the shine from his new-school head-coaching ways at the NFL level.
Kelly also expressed interest in becoming an NFL offensive coordinator, and he was linked to openings with the Jaguars and Falcons earlier this year. Depending on how the coaching carousel plays out this year (and as discussed in the first hour of Tuesday’s PFT Live, the over-under on vacancies is 7.5), Kelly could end up getting a look-see in that capacity.